Love Realms
by taylorash
Summary: Everyone wants something they can't have, he said. She glanced up at him quickly before returning her gaze to her books. 'You have no idea', she thought. Post 1.17. AU, no Dean. Rogan goodyness, for all who want more.


New story. Don't tell me what you're thinking, I already know.

Rory and Logan are both sophmores at Chilton. Starts at episode 1.17, "**The Breakup, Part II**". Italics are quotes from actual episodes.

Enjoy.

**Disclaimer**: Nothing at all.

* * *

"Okay, I think I can now officially say that we are not doing this right." 

Rory sighed. "Lane, what would you like to do?"

She shrugged, looking around. "Well, dancing seems to be what the majority of people would vote on."

Rory took a deep breath, surveying the crowd that the pair had been watching for nearly an hour. "Dance?" If there had been one thing that Lorelai Gilmore's daughter had not been taught in life, it was how to dance.

"We don't have to. I'm just saying, would you rather be part of the party, or a brick on the wall all night?"

"Being a brick has never done me wrong before."

Lane gave her friend an anxious glance, before huffing her defeat. "All right."

Paris walked over to them suddenly. "Some party, huh?" she said sarcastically.

"It sure is," Rory answered with a tight smile. Seeing Paris check her watch repeatedly, she asked the obvious. "_Why do you keep checking your watch?"_

Paris sighed. _"My mom says I have to stay until 10:30."_

_"Why would she care?"_

_"She thinks I'm not enough of a people person. Shocking, huh?"_ she quipped, looking at her watch again.

_"I'm floored,"_ Rory stated, not being able to hide a real smile this time.

All of a sudden, Rory felt a tight grip on her shoulder. Turning her head, she saw Lane looking ahead of her with a look of terror plastered on her face.

"What is it?" she asked curiously, turning back around to come face-to-face with a Korean boy that she recognized from her English class.

_"Hi,"_ he said, looking directly at Lane.

_"Hi," _she offered, giving him a polite smile.

_"I'm Henry."_

"Lane."

"So, would you like to dance?" he asked her hopefully.

Rory looked back at Lane, seeing her unsure expression. "Go," she said, using one of her hands to gesture to the dance floor.

Lane looked at her friend in surprise. "Are you sure? Because if you want me to stay-"

She smiled at Lane's concern, nodding her head. "I'm sure. I'm fine. Go, okay? Have some fun."

Henry smiled, taking her hand. Right before Lane was lead off, she quickly whispered in Rory's ear, "Okay, _if I'm not back in one dance you're coming down with a really bad case of anything that means we have to go home."_

Rory giggled, nodding. She watched Lane as she immediately started laughing with Henry as they danced together. Looking next to her, she saw Paris tapping her watch, more then likely trying to make the ticking go faster. She couldn't really blame her.

After a few more seconds of standing next to the pillar and drinks, Rory quietly slid past the grumbling blonde girl beside her, looking for a more secluded room. After walking past a couple getting quite handsy with each other and a few boys playing some sort of pool that involved shots, she found a room that was much quieter; only a few people populated it. Smiling at her luck, she walked over to one of the chairs, opening her purse and taking out her book choice for the evening.

She was just getting lost in the misadventures of Huckleberry Finn when a voice spoke from behind her. "Doing homework during a party? Surely you can't be that bored."

She turned her head to see a smirking blonde boy looking down at her. "This isn't homework."

The boy raised his eyebrows. "It's not?"

She shook her head. "It's for pleasure."

"Pleasure? Hm, I've always used a different method for that."

Rory rolled her eyes, and then frowned when the boy sat down on one of her chair's armrests.

"So, what's your name, bookworm?"

She glared upwards at him. "I'd appreciate you not calling me that."

"Fair enough. What would you prefer?"

"Don't you have anyone else to talk to?" Rory asked, the impatience in her voice evident.

The boy glanced around the room, then back at Rory. "I'm sorry, was the bookcase over there about to start a dramatic debate about the issues going on in the Middle-east?"

Rory looked up too; the whole room had been deserted except for her and the boy. "Oh," she muttered quietly, before looking back down at her book.

"I guess most people prefer not to be bricks on the wall during a party."

"I am _not _being a brick," Rory said through gritted teeth, not looking up from her page.

"You're not?"

"No, I'm not."

"So, do you want to dance?"

Rory's eyes popped open wide. Returning her gaze to him, she tried to figure out whether he was kidding or not. From the way he was smiling at her, it was hard to tell.

"Really?"

He shrugged, "Why not? You yourself said you weren't a brick. Prove it."

"I don't have to prove anything to you," she said in finality, turning her attention once again to her book.

"True," he said back. "But you want to."

"What are you talking about?" She was still staring at her book, but the words on the page were not computing.

"You want to dance with me."

"And you would know this…how?"

"I can tell."

"You don't even know me."

"If you told me your name I would."

Rory, fed up with the boy's persistence, slammed her book shut.

"Was that a yes?" He said, his smirk growing wider into a smile. She sent him a death glare, finding his expression irritating.

"I can't dance."

"I'll lead."

"I won't be able to follow."

"Oh, now I don't believe that."

They stared at each other, eyes locked, both waiting for their opponent to break first. Finally, after what seemed like a staring match of hours, but was really just a few minutes, she stood up in a huff.

"Fine. But only one dance," she grumbled, putting her book back into her bag.

"Your enthusiasm is appreciated," he said teasingly, leading her onto the floor.

A few seconds after they reached the dance floor, the fast song that had been playing stopped abruptly and was replaced by a slow tune.

Rory stood still for a moment, shocked, before looking back at the boy. "You set this up."

"No, though I wish I could say I did. The DJ has excellent timing; I must remember to thank him later."

* * *

"Name?" 

She removed her head from his shoulder to look at him. "Still hung up on that?"

"Well, I do find that knowing the name of the girl I am dancing with is always a plus."

"And yet, you have failed to tell me your name."

"Logan Huntzberger."

Rory's eyes went wide with surprise. "You mean, Mitchum-"

"Huntzberger's son?" He finished for her, nodding. "Your turn."

She narrowed her eyes. "How do I know that you're not some mass-murder serial killer who is just waiting for me to reveal my identity before he goes home, looks me up, stalks me, and then comes to my house one night to kidnap me, my dog, and leave my parents to the nuns?"

He raised his eyebrows. "Because no man's brain is complex enough to think up a plan like that."

She couldn't help herself; laughing at his words, she returned her head so her cheek was almost touching his. Looking around, she noticed Lane watching her with a knowing smile from a few feet away, her body pressed against Henry's in a way that would have Mrs. Kim praying for years to come.

"Who's that?" Lane mouthed, eyeing the blonde.

Rory smirked. "A friend," she mouthed back. Sighing, she leaned her head away from his cheek to look back into his eyes. "Rory Gilmore."

He grinned. "Pleased to make your acquaintance."

* * *

"Mom, we're home!" 

Lorelai came down the stairs hurriedly. "Fruit of my loins! How was the party?"

"It was okay. Can Lane spend the night?"

Lorelai nodded. "Of course. So, the party was just okay?"

Lane shrugged off her coat, smiling. "Yeah, Rory. Are you sure about that?" she asked knowingly.

Lorelai looked from Rory to Lane, then back to Rory. "Okay, what'd I miss?"

"Nothing, you missed _nothing_," Rory said quickly, giving lane a wary glance.

"If _nothing _is the equivalent to Rory getting pretty cozy on the dance floor with some blonde, then she's right."

Lorelai smiled, as Rory blushed and glared at Lane at the same time.

"Tristan?"

Rory shook her head. "No, Logan," she replied casually, taking off her coat and walking into her room. Lorelai and Lane didn't hesitate to follow her.

"Who's Logan?"

"No one," Rory said. "Just someone who I met at the party. We talked, he asked me to dance, then me and Lane left. The end."

"From what I saw, you seemed to be enjoying yourself," Lane pointed out.

"Lane! He's just a friend," she reassured her mother, who had her eyebrows raised.

"Hah! For now!" Lane retorted, causing Rory's cheeks to become a deeper shade of red.

Lorelai smiled wickedly. "Well, well, well. Looks like things are going to get interesting around here pretty soon."

* * *

"You gonna see the Dancing Hunk today?" 

Rory rolled her eyes. "_Logan_. And I don't think so, we don't have any classes together and I've never seen him in the hallway."

"Well, then he'll come looking for you. Boys tend to do that if they don't get a girl's number the first time they talk."

Rory looked up from her Luke's Menu to stare at her mother in confusion. "What?"

"Don't question the male brain, babe. It's so simple that it's convoluted."

* * *

"Coffee, after school. You in?" 

Rory jumped, knocking two books out of her locker when she heard the voice. Looking up, she saw Logan's face and sighed. "Geez, way to sneak up on a girl."

"Sorry," he said, and bent down to pick up her books.

"Thank you."

"No problem," he replied, handing them back to her. "So, you in?"

She looked at him, puzzled. "In for what?"

"Coffee, after school," he repeated.

"Oh. Oh!" She looked around her, before looking back into his eyes. "Really?"

He laughed. "We're not going to have Saturday's conversation again, are we?"

"Right. Sorry. Um…" she closed her locker. "Sure." The words were out of her mouth before she could make one of her quick mental pro-con lists.

"Great, I'll meet you outside after school," he said. She nodded, putting her books into her book bag. "Sounds-" she looked up, seeing he was out sight. "Good?"

* * *

"No!" 

"Yes!"

"No!"

"Yes!"

"No!"

"Yes!"

"Yes!"

"_Nice _try Huntzberger," she said, grinning evilly. "Tell me again."

Logan rolled his eyes. "Third time the charm?"

"In this case it is."

"Okay, so me, Finn and Collin walk into a bar-"

He was cut off by Rory trying to contain her giggles behind her hand.

"You know, if you want to hear the story, you have got to stop laughing before I get to the good part."

"I'm sorry, I'm sorry," she said, smiling as she took a few deep breaths to contain her laughter. "Again."

He raised his eyebrows, and she simply took another sip of coffee.

"Fourth time's the charm," she said in mock defense.

"Uh-huh," he replied, not believing her for a second. "You know, no one else I've told this story to has burst into giggles during the first few words."

She looked at him skeptically. "No one else you've told this story to was raised by Lorelai Gilmore."

* * *

"So, when do I get to meet these crazy friends of yours?" 

He shrugged. "Next time we go out."

"Next time?"

He nodded, looking at her innocently. "Something wrong?" he asked, noticing her cheeks had gone slightly pink.

"I…uh…no," she said quietly.

"Good." They continued walked back to the school parking lot to get their cars.

They were in a comfortable silence for a few minutes before he broke it. "Next Friday?"

She looked up at him. "Huh?"

He smiled. "The next time."

"Oh, right. Um, I have a dinner at my grandparent's I have to go to, but I'm sure afterwards I can do something."

"Perfect."

Suddenly, a car in the school's parking lot that they were nearing backfired. Rory yelped, caught by surprise.

"You okay?"

Rory breathed a little deeper, putting a hand to her heart. "Yeah, sorry. Just a little jumpy."

"Understandable." They continued walking for a time, Logan smirking but not mentioning their hands entwined together.

* * *

"You like him." 

"Mom! Not this again," she huffed, annoyed.

Lorelai continued perusing the channels. "You like him."

"He's just a friend."

"You like him."

"There's nothing romantic between us."

Lorelai nodded, not taking here eyes away from the TV screen. "You like him."

"No."

"You like him."

"Look! I don't, why can't you and Lane see that? Yes, we may have danced at Madeline's party a few weeks ago, and yes maybe I enjoyed it, and yes maybe we have developed a friendship over the months since then. But, Mom, as your daughter and best friend, I'm telling you that I don't like him as anything more then what we are. We both care for each other, yes, and maybe would show up at the other's funeral if they were to die tomorrow, but I assure you; there is absolutely positively nothing more then friendship between us."

Lorelai watched her daughter make this speech. When it looked like she was done, she returned her attention to the TV screen.

"You like him."

* * *

Unfortunately, I will be out of town until August 12th, visiting some friends I haven't seen in almost a year. This means I will be unable to update or write anything until I return. However, if I get a certain amount of reviews on this story, and I won't tell you what the amount I want is, I promise to have this story, **Regrets**, _and_ **A Pinky Sworn Promise** updated by the 16th. I have the chapters all typed up and ready; one I send them to my betas they are good to go. However, I just am deciding to torture you for long periods of time, since you haven't suffered enough already. So, from now until then, those chapters are being held hostage. The only way to let them free? Review. Make me and George happy. 

A quick and special thanks to **Belle1220**, who informed me of someone stealing one of my stories and posting it on a different forum. Truckloads of gratitude to you. :)


End file.
